Where is Cushy? - Fisherman’s disappearance continues to haunt family

Michelle Dennis says her life has been like a roller coaster since her son, Lendford Noyan, went missing last February. The 26-year-old Portland fisherman, known to his peers as 'Cushy', was reported missing at the Manchioneal Hill Police Station on February 6, 2021, three days after he went fishing with friends. He has not be seen or heard from since.

Dennis, 54, said she has found it difficult to live a normal life, as the uncertainty around her son's whereabouts continues to weigh heavily on her mind.

"Sometimes mi siddung and think about him and start cry," said Dennis in a telephone interview with THE STAR.

"Yuh know, all the while when mi hear people a lose dem pickney, mi used to say it would a hard fi me get news say mi pickney dead. Right now, mi a talk to yuh and mi eyes full a water. Sometimes mi nuh wah memba nothing about it, enuh. Mi a grieve inside; inside a me empty fi me pickney," she added.

JUMPED OVERBOARD

One of the fishermen with whom Noyan ventured out reportedly said that he jumped overboard after the boat got into difficulties. However, his family is not buying it. Dennis, in particular, is hoping that she will soon wake up from the haunting year-long nightmare.

"Every day mi wish mi hear mi phone ring and see him a call, or hear him say, 'Ole woman, mi deh yah', because a so him would a call to me when him come," said the grief-stricken mother.

"He was my heartbeat. When him daddy died, he was only two weeks and three days. Him father got sick and died, and a me alone wid him since then. Mi tell people every day mi have five children, but mi have a different love for Cushy," she said. "Any time mi think about him mi feel shattered, mi affi ask God fi hold me."

The family said that they have not received adequate support from the police. When contacted for comment on Tuesday, head of the Portland police, Superintendent Kenneth Chin, said he needed more time to be briefed on the matter before he could speak. Subsequent calls to his cell phone have gone unanswered.

In the meantime, Dennis, while hoping that the police will assist in shedding light on the matter, has sought divine intervention.

"Mi get baptised and gone inna mi church because mi cyah tek pressure," the mother said, adding that it is especially hard on her whenever she travels to see Cushy's child in Manchioneal Hill.